The Bangladesh Police arrested this Sunday a senior official of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), amid new episodes of violence between security forces and protesters that raise the number of deaths to three.
Dhaka security forces arrested the party’s general secretary, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, at his home, a spokesperson for the BNP’s media wing, Shairul Kabir Khan, confirmed to EFE.
Alamgir is the party’s highest-ranking opposition leader in the absence of opposition leader and former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, under house arrest since 2020; and his son, Tarique Rahman, exiled in London since 2008.
Alamgir’s arrest occurred a day after a police officer and a BNP supporter died in a clash yesterday between security forces and supporters of the opposition group following the call for a massive demonstration against the Government.
These clashes also left hundreds of people injured, including activists, police officers and around thirty journalists, said the president of the Dhaka Reporters Unit, Morsalin Nomani.
In a new episode of violence this morning, before the start of a national strike announced yesterday by Alamgir after yesterday’s frustrated demonstration, a transport worker died when a mob set fire to the bus in which he was sleeping, the transport official told EFE. firefighters Nima Khanam.
Some 1,350 leaders and activists of the opposition BNP were arrested throughout this week, 330 of them last Thursday, according to the party’s general secretary.
Since its last major rally in late July, authorities have arrested 4,020 followers and since Hasina took power in Bangladesh, 1,539 BNP supporters have been killed and 1,204 have gone missing, according to party data.
The ruling Awami League has an overwhelming parliamentary majority after winning the 2018 general elections, when it was accused of electoral rigging by the opposition.
The BNP has announced that it will not participate in the next general elections scheduled for January 2024, unless Hasina resigns and allows the formation of an interim Government that ensures free and fair elections.
The Awami League and the BNP have ruled Bangladesh since 1991, except for a brief quasi-military government in 2007-2008.
